Ok, I think you guys all remember this fellow back in late 2001 early 2002. Do you feel that his imprisonment was justified? or do you feel other wise?

 "I plead guilty," he said. "I provided my services as a soldier to the Taliban last year from about August to December. In the course of doing so, I carried a rifle and two grenades. I did so knowingly and willingly knowing that it was illegal."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walker_Lindh - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walker_Lindh

He should be under intense probation for the remainder of his life after he is released from prison. Whats to say this lunatic wont fly back to Afghanistan and start jihading  again?

If he really wanted to become part of the Taliban he should have renounced US citizenship when he swore allegiance to the Taliban. Someone who holds US citizenship and fights for the other side may be rightly considered a traitor. Be renouncing US citizenship he would no longer be American and the US would no longer have any responsibility to subject him to their justice system or a program for rehabilitation. However, he is a US citizen and must be considered a traitor, he must be sentenced and (if deemed desirable) rehabilitated by US law.

Probably should have worked on his tan a little more .

nice add on Genghis. The funny thing about your post is I can tell you pretty much summed up everything you thought on the issue with those two words.

leave it to Genghis, always consistent though

Basically I go with Constantine on this. But it^s not too easy to renounce one's citizenship unilaterally.

William Joyce ('Lord Haw-Haw') claimed to be not a British subject when he was broadcasting for the Nazis, but he was nevertheless hanged for treason after the war.

Of course he's a traitor and should be punished accordingly.

While I was reading his brief biography, I could not but ask myself, "What drove him to make such bizarre decisions in his life?" (I am not defending his actions and I have no sympathy for him.) Sometimes in life, it just takes us a momentary decision to start digging a hole that, once dug, becomes deeper and deeper that it finally reaches a point of no return.

I am pretty sure quite a few of us have experienced moments in our lives when the boundary between sanity and insanity isn't that clear cut anymore. Thankfully, most of us won't cross over to the "other" side. But John Walker Lindh did.

He's only 25 years old, probably just about the same age as quite a lot of the forumers here.  

That's very true, and a very good question.  I recall that he used to be a really hardcore partier and a big fan of gangster rap and stuff, but eventually rejected it and went to the opposite end of the spectrum by embracing puritanical Islam. 

It would be interesting to read a psychoanalytical analysis of him.

That's not quite true. If they were born outside America, they would be American citizens (like it or not) if

a) a parent was a US Citizen who had resided in America before the childs birth

AND (b) after the birth the baby was taken to a US consulate and a declaration of citizenship sworn out

AND (c) the child spent a certain amount of time living in the US before the age of 18 (I forget exactly how long).

As I understand it, if both parents were US citizens, then (c) is not required.

But I agree that once a citizen it's pretty impossible to opt out again.

There is more information that you would probably care to know about at

http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/07fam/07m1130.pdf - http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/07fam/07m1130.pdf

(I'm fairly familiar with this because of  my stepdaughter's situation, and my involvement with the expatriate US community here.)

That is a very interesting theory. But even so, the personal transformation from a hardcore partier to someone who embraces Islam in its most puritanical form is still "remarkable" in a very bizarre kind of way.

Yes, that's Genghis, if I am not mistaken.

We had always had terrible relations with the Taliban, we had supported groups like the Taliban throughout Afghanistan but when the Soviets left and their puppet regime fell, the State Department basically washed their hands of Afghanistan.

Yes, that is a picture of me.

The Ice Skating Institute supported tha Taliban? Those bastards! Whats the ISI?

Only three countries recognized the Taliban, Pakistan, Unite Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

If the US did support them for whatever reason, it would have been because of Pakistan did since the US would prefer a Pakistan supported government rather then a Russian Northern Alliance supported faction. It was a civil war. Omar, the leader of the newly formed faction of the Taliban went to Pakistan in 1994 where they got training and weapons.

I wouldn't say anybody knew how the Taliban would turn out compared to all the other factions. And theres really no evidence of the US supporting the taliban at all. Just speculation.

Besides, we sent a Cruise Missle into Afghanistan in 1998 to destroy a Al Qaida terrorist camp. If we had any form of diplomatic relations with the Taliban, I doubt we would do that.

The only reason I could think the US government would support them is because another major faction was supported by the Russians and since Pakistan supported the other faction, the Taliban, the US probably gave money to support them.

Other then that I honestly believe the US government wiped their hands of them when they were sure the region was secure and the Russians didn't get their chosen faction in place, thus winning a small war so to speak. If they continued to support them, they were probably doing so to get their hands on Osama for the 1993 attack.

Other then that, their was no real strategic reason to support them. Well, as far as I could see anyways. I'm not sure if I gave the best reasoning, I'd like to think their was a good reason other then dumping money into countries for no apparent reason, example: Israel...

I didn't know there was a pipeline project, learn something new everyday.

But doesn't the US buy most of it's oil through OPEC in the middle east? How would this work exactly if the pipeline went through?